Holmesian Derivations

Merry Christmas and happy holidays.

But yeah, been busy over at the main blog. As soon as I find a secret pool of time I’ll update this here dusty ole’ site.

Folks, we are in need of serious House oracles here.

As of this writing, season 4 of House, M.D. has ended on a couple of tear-jerker, heart-stopper episodes—and the fallout in season 5 is going to be ugly.

But as I’m a Holmesian as well as a House fan, I look at the events of the last four episodes of season 4 as a darker mirror of The Sign of Four—and the analysis of the differences and similarities between the two may yield some answers to the future of season 5. (I also extend my analysis into events beyond Sign of Four.)

And since we’ve got some months ahead before Season 5 lands, and maybe an actor’s strike on the way, let’s have a good go at it.

Continue Reading »

Previously we looked at how Doyle revealed character depth in the flow of the story, rather than breaking flow to drop in character information.

Today, we’ll look at Doyle’s skills at description, atmosphere, and suspense as we lead into that part of any story, so maddening to many a writer: the middle.

Let us type.

Continue Reading »

iHolmes by ~MyDearWatson
on deviantART

So, given that Holmes has an iPod, what is he playing on that thang?

One of these things is not like the others; one of these things just doesn’t belong. Can you tell me which thing is not like others before I reach the end of this ….

Last time, we looked at Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s techniques of:

• the information dump as extended inner story; and
• pacing between inner and outer story.

Today, we’re going to look at Doyle’s adeptness at revealing character depth through multiple narrative means.

Let us type.

Continue Reading »